Katip Celebi

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Cihannuma [The mirror of the world]. by, Katib Celebi

Constantinope, Ibrahim Muteferrika, 3 July 1732.

Title: Cihannuma [The mirror of the world]

Date: 1732
Author: Katib Celebi
Description: The Cihannüma is a cosmorama or atlas written by a famous Ottoman
intellectual named either Hajji Khalifa or Katib Celebi (died AH 1067 / AD 1657). The
colophon of this copy identifies the scribe as Ibrahim el-Qirmi, potentially hailing from
the Crimea, as well as the place of production as the madrasa (school) of Ankara. On fol.
1a and 10a, ownership notes of a certain Mir Khalil Tevqi’i ‘Alipashazade are also
present. Interestingly, “Tevqi’i” was the job title of an official within the court
chancellery responsible with affixing the grand, noble signature to official letters. Fol.
1a–4b include the beginning of Sipahizade Mehmet bin Ali’s geography book Audah al-
masalik ila ma'rifat al-mamalik, followed by blank pages on fol. 5a–10b. The following
second part of the manuscript is more extensive than the first, containing a text copied
from the first version of the Cihannüma. It was later rewritten to include a synthesis of
Islamic and Western sources, yet this manuscript is an interesting reference book to
geography with keywords, headings, geographical names and punctuation emphasized
in red. Numerous sketches of maps in colored pen and ink drawing are also spread over
86 pages, including two full-page and one half-page sketches; the remaining hundred
drawings are affixed to the margins of the page. These drawings are mostly directly
related to the adjacent text. Although there is no date, the text copied by the scribe, as
well as the small-scale cursory drawings and the binding suggest it was made in the 18th
century.
Altogether there are 698 pages, 13 engraved plates, 27 engraved maps, all
illustration in the original hand-color heightened in gold, decorated in Islamic floral

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motifs with a foliate centre-piece in gilt, spine in six compartments separated by raised
bands, richly decorated in gilt, title in Arabic script to second compartment.
Katip Celebi’s rare Cihannuma, or Jihan-numa, [The mirror of the world], was
published in Istanbul in 1732, and includes the first map of America published in the
Ottoman Empire.
Katip Celebi, Mustafa bin Abdullah, Haji Khalifa or Kalfa (1609 – 1657), was an
Ottoman scholar, historian and geographer, and who is regarded as one of the most
productive authors of non-religious scientific literature in the 17th century Ottoman
Empire.
Katip became an army clerk and took part in many campaigns in the east,
meanwhile collecting material for his historical works. As a child he was taught the
Qur’an and Arabic grammar and calligraphy, but his later education was irregular; he
attended lectures between military campaigns. An inheritance allowed him to settle
permanently in Constantinople, where, except for his duties as government clerk, he
was able to devote all his time to collecting books, studying, and writing.
He was an avid bibliophile, an industrious scholar, and a prolific and straightforward
writer. Celebi began work on an atlas of maps, which was not completed and published
until 1732, by Muteferrika, due to the continuing ban on printing in the Ottoman
Empire.
The Cihannuma of Katip Celebi from the printing house of Ibrahim Muteferrika
was printed in Istanbul in 1732. Muteferrika’s press was the first Islamic printing house.
The introduction of printing in moveable type was slow to develop in the Middle East.
The very earliest examples of printing in Arabic script date from early 16th century
Europe, where religious texts were printed, especially by Italian printers. Some early
Arabic religious texts were also printed from presses in Christian communities in the
Middle East, but it was not until the early 18th century that printing in Arabic script by
Islamic printing houses in the Islamic world was officially authorized.
The initiative came from Said Efendi, son of the Ottoman Ambassador to Paris
who accompanied his father on a diplomatic visit there in 1721. There he had learned
about printing and on his return to Istanbul he requested the support of the Grand
Vizier in the setting up of a printing press. His chief collaborator was Ibrahim
Muteferrika, a man with many interests including astronomy, history, philosophy and
theology. He was born in Hungary in 1674, probably a Christian who converted to
Islam. The name ‘Muteferrika’ is derived from his employment as a bureaucrat and
diplomat under Sultan Ahmed III.
Together with Said Efendi, Muteferrika was granted permission to print books in
Ottoman Turkish in Arabic script. The presses and typefaces were obtained from local
Jewish and Christian printers and later imported from Europe. Ibrahim Muteferrika
became director of the first Turkish printing press. The first book, a dictionary, was
printed in 1729. Religious texts were officially excluded as they continued to be copied
in manuscript form only. There was a vested interest among the local scribes and
calligraphers to prevent the growth of printing. The cursive design of Arabic script lent
itself particularly well to manuscript production and the manuscript workshops
presented a constant opposition to Muteferrika’s enterprise.

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Important among his printed works was the world atlas, the ‘Cihannuma’ of
Katip Celebi printed in 1732. This is a world atlas, or cosmography, loosely translated as
‘The mirror of the world’. Celebi (1609–1657) was an Ottoman historian, bibliographer and
geographer and the most conspicuous and productive scholar, particularly in the non-
religious sciences in the 17th century Ottoman Empire. He was a life-long friend of
Muteferrika.
Muteferrika has himself added a significant introduction to his printing of
Celebi’s work in which he discusses the Copernican view of astronomy. He is

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considered to be one of the first people to introduce the Copernican view of the solar
system to Ottoman readers.

The diagrams and maps within the volume, of which there are over forty, cover
the countries of the Middle East, the Mediterranean and areas farther a field.
Back in Istanbul, however, the printing activities did not last and came to an end
in 1743, due to strong opposition of the local scribes to Muteferrika’s enterprise. He died
in 1745, after printing works on grammar, geography, math and, above all, history;
books from his press are often known as the ‘Turkish incunabula’. But this change was not
long-lasting and printing houses eventually grew up in other Middle Eastern cities.
Eventually even the ban of printing religious texts was lifted and the first printed Qur’an
texts appeared in the 1860s.

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The publication would have served both as a tool for military and bureaucratic
needs as well as for educating scholars and the elite. It became the standard work of
geography in the Ottoman empire and remained so well into the 19th century.

Katip Celebi’s longest-lasting and, in terms of its textual history, most complex
work is a world geography in Turkish. This textual history has first been studied by F.
Taeschner (d. 1967), whose findings were confirmed and refined by G. Hagen. Katip
Celebi’s interest in geography was sparked off by the beginning of the Cretan War in
1055/1645. In keeping with the goals of the ‘Encyclopedic Project,’ Katip Celebi began
the work as an expansion of Sipahizade’s alphabetical excerpt, written in Arabic, from
Abu’l-Fida’s Taqwim al-buldan. The first original version, now in Turkish, largely
followed the structure of a classical Islamic cosmography (i.e. the division into spheres,
elements, and climes). The broader geographical scope, intended to include recent
information on Europe and the New World, as well as the illustration with maps in the
margins are innovative features of the work and indicate Katip Celebi’s attempt to
detach geography from the theological roots of cosmography and provide a
comprehensive and up-to-date survey of the world based on all kinds of sources
regardless of genre. Abu’l-Fida’ (d. 732/1331), Mehmed Aşıq (d. >1596), Piri Re’is’ (d.
961/1553) Bahriye (in both versions), as well as Hoca Sadeddin’s (d. 1008/1599) Tacü’t-
tevarih are Katip Celebi’s main sources.

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Katip Celebi states that this work was abandoned when he was unable to locate
sufficient information on Europe. Numerous manuscripts of this incomplete version
were circulating, comprising the description of the seas, lakes, rivers, and of the climes
of al-Andalus, Magrib, and Rumeli. Two different stages of this version can be
distinguished. A detailed study of manuscripts in Istanbul may reveal even more
variations. Despite his frustration Katip Celebi continued to add notes and excerpts to a
fine copy in his possession.
Katip Celebi’s work on the Cihannüma was revived when he was able to lay his
hands on several European geographical works, which a French convert to Islam
translated for him (contrary to assertions in some later studies, Katip Celebi certainly
did not know Latin or Italian). The most important of these works is Jodocus Hondius’
redaction of Gerhard Mercator’s Atlas, entitled Atlas Minor, translated as Levamiu’n-nur.
In 1065/1654, with the translation still in progress, Katip Celebi started over with his
work on Cihannüma. The second version of the work began with a systematic
introduction to cartography and mathematical geography, including a refutation of
mythical Islamic cosmography. Moreover, Katip Celebi started by making for the first
time an explicit argument for the strategic and political usefulness of the science of
geography.
After an overview of the seas and the continents, Katip Celebi begins the
descriptions of countries in the east, working westward. Each description is based on a
template which can be found in the Viennese Draft and is derived from Mercator’s
approach. East and Southeast Asia are described primarily according to Western
sources. In addition to Mercator these include Theatrum Orbis Terrarum by Ortelius,
Introductio in totam geographiam by Philippus Cluverius, La Fabbrica del Mondo by
Giovanni Lorenzo d’Anania, and a commentary on Aristotle’s Meteorologica by the Jesuit
Collegium Conimbricense. Further west Katip Celebi relies on Islamic sources. Besides
those used for the first version of Cihannüma, the most important ones among these
sources are Hamdallah Mustaufi’s Nuzhatu l-qulub and Amin Ahmad Razi’s Haft Iqlim.
Each chapter was supposed to be accompanied by a map, some of which were copied
from Atlas Minor, some drawn by Katip Celebi based on textual evidence. Such maps
indicate that Katip Celebi was not a skilled cartographer, with little interest in issues of
projection and calculation.
Below is an example of Katip Celebi's rare map of the Eastern Hemisphere, from
his Jihan-numa, published in Istanbul in 1732, the first map of America published in the
Ottoman Empire.

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The second version of Cihannüma remained unfinished after Katip Celebi’s death,
ending with the description of Armenia. The autograph copy bears marginal comments
by Ebu Bekr b. Behram ed-Dimişqi, geographer and translator of Blaeuw’s Atlas Maior
for Mehmed IV (r. 1058-1099/1648-87), who obviously intended to use it for a new
geography of the Ottoman Empire. It is also the basis of the printed edition by İbrahim
Müteferriqa, entitled Cihannüma, which consists of the second version, supplemented
with excerpts from a work by Ebu Bekr with a description of the Asiatic part of the
Ottoman Empire, making the most frequently cited part of Cihannüma not Katip Celebi’s
but Ebu Bekr’s. Why Müteferriqa decided to publish the fragmentary and increasingly
outdated Cihannüma, instead of a version of Ebu Bekr’s more recent and complete work
remains somewhat of a mystery.
Manuscripts of Cihannüma may consist of the first version, the second version, or
a combination of both. The number of extant manuscripts indicates the widespread
interest in geography, while the printed edition may have found more interest among
Europeans.
Several attempts have been made to supplement the Cihannüma. A second
volume announced by Müteferriqa never materialized. Şehrizade Ahmed’s Ravzatu’l-
enfus fi’t-ta’rih was conceived as a continuation. The Atlas of Bartınlı İbrahim Hamdi,
completed in 1163/1750, with individual additions until after 1173/1760, has been
characterized as an expanded revision of the Cihannüma. Several minor continuations,
partly in private manuscript collections, have been noted by Taeschner and Sarıcaoğlu.

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Katib Celebi, who had an exceptional place in the Ottoman Empire’s 17th century
historiography, translated and annotated Gerardus Mercator’s famous geography-
history work known as Atlas Minor under the title Levami‘u’n-Nur fi-Zulmet-i Atlas Minor
in order to use it as a source. This work mentions the historical geography in accordance
with the general classification of the continents, and at the same time includes historical,
geographic, political, legal and legendary information about the whole world, starting
with Europe. In this context, some information about Turkish history, geography,
culture, political structure and civilization has been transferred to Ottoman Turkish in
independent sections or in retail sentences with the work. The information contained in
the content of the work is written from ancient sources until 1595, when the work was
first published, or compiled from close witnesses to the event.
Katib Celebi criticized the work of Mercator as explaining the information about
Turkish history as a whole or to annotated it with critical words. In addition, in some
sections, he was quoted in the same way without commenting as if leaving it to the
reader. In this context, it is valuable for Ottoman history studies to reveal how Turkish
history was evaluated by Mercator, one of the 16th century European scholars, and how
it was conveyed and criticized by Katib Celebi.

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References:
Hagen, Gottfried, “Kâtib Çelebi and Sipahizade”, 2006
_______________. “Historians of the Ottoman Empire: Kātib Çelebi”, 2007
_______________, “Kâtib Çelebi and Tarih-i Hind-i Garbî”, 1998
Sezgin, Fuat, Kitab-I Cihannuma
Türkler / The Ottoman Empire and the Turks in the Mercator Atlas, as explicated by
Katib Çelebi”. 2021
Üstüner, Ahmet, “Kâtib Çelebi Kalemiyle Mercator Atlası'nda Osmanlı Devleti ve

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